Depeche Mode :)

Born: 1980

The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan (lead vocals), Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, vocals, chief songwriter after 1981), Andrew Fletcher (keyboards) and Vince Clarke (keyboards, chief songwriter 1980 - 81). Vince Clarke left the band after the release of their 1981 debut album, and was replaced by Alan Wilder (keyboards, drums, production) with Gore taking over songwriting. Wilder left the band in 1995 and since then Gahan, Gore, and Fletcher have continued as a trio.

Depeche Mode are one of the most successful, influential, longest-lived bands from the early 1980s. They have had forty-seven songs in the UK

Singles Chart and #1 albums in UK, US and throughout Europe. According to EMI, Depeche Mode have sold over 75 million albums worldwide, as part of total worldwide record sales (including singles) in excess of 100 million, making them the most successful electronic music group in music history.

Depeche Mode's origins are in 1977, when Vince Clarke and Andrew Fletcher formed a band called No Romance in China, with Clarke on vocals and guitar and Fletcher on bass. In 1979, Clarke played guitar in an "Ultravox rip-off band", The Plan, with friends Robert Marlow and Paul Langwith. In 1978 - 79, Gore played in an acoustic duo, Norman and The Worms, with school friend Philip Burdett on vocals and Gore on guitar. In 1979, Marlow, Gore, Clarke and friend Paul Redmond formed a band called The French Look, Marlow on vocals/keyboards, Gore on guitar and Redmond on keyboards. In March 1980, Clarke, Gore and Fletcher formed a band called Composition of Sound, with Clarke on vocals/guitar, Gore on keyboards and Fletcher on bass. On 31 May 1980, The French Look and Composition of Sound played together at St. Nicholas School Youth Club, Basildon, Essex.

Soon after the formation of Composition of Sound, Clarke and Fletcher switched to synthesizers, working odd jobs including carpentry to buy or borrow them from friends. Dave Gahan joined the band in 1980 after Clarke heard him perform at a local scout-hut jam session, crooning to a rendition of David Bowie's "Heroes", and Depeche Mode was born. When explaining the choice for the new name (taken from a French fashion magazine, De'pe^che mode) Martin Gore has said, "It means hurried fashion or fashion dispatch. I like the sound of that." The band made their recording debut on the Some Bizzare Album, with the song "Photographic", later re-recorded for their debut album, Speak & Spell.

While playing a live gig at the Bridge House in Canning Town, the band was approached by Daniel Miller (an electronic musician and founder of Mute Records), who was interested in them recording a single for his burgeoning label. The result of this verbal contract was their first single "Dreaming of Me", recorded in December 1980 and released in February 1981, reaching number 57 in the UK charts. Encouraged by this, the band recorded its second single "New Life", climbing to number 11 in the UK charts. Three months later, the band released "Just Can't Get Enough" - its first single to enter the UK Top 10, peaking at number eight and was the first Depeche Mode song to get a music video. It is the only Depeche Mode video with Vince Clarke. This record was in many ways a breakthrough for the band, and its success paved the way for its debut album - Speak & Spell, released in November 1981, and eventually reaching number ten on the UK album charts. Critical reviews were mixed - Melody Maker described it as a "great album... one they had to make to conquer fresh audiences and please the fans who just can't get enough", while Rolling Stone was more critical, calling the album "PG-rated fluff".

During the touring and promotion for Speak & Spell, Clarke began privately to voice his discomfort at the direction the band was taking. He later expressed his agitation that "there was never enough time to do anything". In November 1981, Clarke publicly announced that he was leaving Depeche Mode. Soon afterwards, he joined with blues singer Alison Moyet to form Yazoo (Yaz in the U.S.) and later, the duo Erasure with Andy Bell. After initial talk of Clarke continuing to write material for the group ultimately amounted to nothing (Clarke offered the remaining members of Depeche Mode the track "Only You", but they declined; it subsequently went to UK #2 for Clarke's new band, Yazoo), Gore, who had written "Tora! Tora! Tora!" and "Big Muff" for Speak & Spell, was forced to become the band's new songwriter.

In late 1981, the band placed an anonymous ad in Melody Maker looking for another musician. Alan Wilder, a 22 - year old keyboardist from West London, responded and after two auditions, he was hired in early 1982 initially on a trial basis as a touring member.

In 2001, Depeche Mode released Exciter, which was produced by Mark Bell (of the pioneering techno group LFO). Bell introduced a minimalist, digital sound to much of the album, influenced by IDM and glitch. "Dream On", "I Feel Loved", "Freelove" and "Goodnight Lovers" were released as singles in 2001 and 2002. The critical response to the album was mixed. Whilst it received reasonably positive reviews from some magazines (NME, Rolling Stone and LA Weekly), others (including Q, PopMatters, and Pitchfork Media) derided it as sounding underproduced, dull and lacklustre.

On March 13 th, 2001 Depeche Mode held a press conference at the Valentino Hotel in Hamburg, Germany, to announce the Exciter Tour.

In 2003 and 2004, Mute released the DVD version of 101 and Devotional, filmed during their 1993 world tour, as well as a new remix compilation album Remixes 81 - 04 that compiled new and unreleased promo mixes of the band's singles from 1981 to 2004, including a reinterpreted version of "Enjoy the Silence" by Mike Shinoda entitled "Enjoy the Silence 04", which was released as a single, and reached #7 on the UK charts.

On 15 January 2009, the official Depeche Mode website announced that the new album would be called Sounds of the Universe. The album was released internationally on 20 April 2009 and in the U.S. on 21 April 2009.

On 14 May 2009, Depeche Mode announced they had been forced to cancel six shows on their Tour of the Universe due to further complications from singer Dave Gahan's severe bout of gastroenteritis. On 28 May 2009, Depeche Mode announced that Dave Gahan recovered from gastroenteritis after doctors found a "low-grade malignant tumour" in his bladder during tests and removed it. Also, doctors ordered him to rest until 8 June, when the band resumed touring starting in Leipzig, Germany.

On 3 December 2009, Sounds of the Universe was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album. They received a second nomination for the video Wrong : for Best Short Form Music Video.

As reported by Billboard (magazine), Tour of the Universe has become one of the 25 most profitable in 2009. The list headed by U2 and Madonna compares gross revenues billed by artists who were on tour between 6 December 2008 and 21 November 2009. Depeche mode is located in 20 th place in the list, with a total gross revenue of $45,658,648 in 31 concerts, generating an estimated audience of 690,000 viewers.

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on Mar 18th, 2013

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